Apple Watch purchase in USA or UK

Series 9 and Ultra I were the first that had a cellular radio that worked everywhere except China. So a Series 9, Series 10, Ultra I and Ultra II should work on both sides of the pond.

Here are the carriers that support the Apple Watch

Apple Watch - Carriers - Apple

Are you going to switch carriers when you switch countries? Because Roaming, while also suppose to work, is carrier dependent, and generally they try to soak you for the privilege of roaming. Of course your iPhone can have several eSIMs, with any 2 concurrently active, so you could have both. You do have to tell the Apple Watch which is the phone number to associate with.

NOTE: If you ALWAYS have your iPhone nearby, then the GPS only model with do EVERYTHING the cellular model does, AS LONG AS your iPhone is nearby, with nearby being in the same moderate sized wood framed constructed home. The cellular model allows you to leave the iPhone at home when you go for walk, run, bike ride, etc... The GPS model is $100 U.S. cheaper, does not have a $10 U.S. monthly fee, does not care what carrier you are using, and works anywhere your iPhone works.

U.S. purchased Apple Watch is legally blocked from using the O2 sensor. It even has a unique U.S. only model number the software can key off of to make sure it does not enable the O2 sensor regardless of where the update is applied.

Warranty ONLY in the country of purchase. If you travel to the U.S. frequently, then that may not be a problem. Or if you are not hard on your toys, then you may never need warranty service (I had my Series 4 going on 6 years, and never needed service; Just starting with a Series 10 replacement today 😁).

Buy the Apple Watch where you reside. AppleCare+ and Warranty only apply to your region of purchase, so you will have to go back to where you purchased the iPhone for service.

You still maybe able to get service internationally, though the service centers are not obligated to honor the warranty. It all depends on if they have the parts for your iPhone, and at the service center’s discretion.

Hi Angus,

I’m a former Apple Store manager and I can emphatically state that your warranty would be valid at an Apple Retail Store. The store was near a large tourist destination in Florida and we had numerous Apple owners visiting the Gulf Coast of Florida. During cooler months we had numerous snowbirds (winter friends) from Canada and many other nations. Valid warranties were definitely honored when they meet terms and conditions. This also applied to Apple products in their home countries when presented with a valid warranty.

This can become a grey area at third party warranty services. They have the right to refuse service in many cases.

angus141 wrote:

Bought the Watch 10 and it’s great. Works fine on Vodafone UK network too.

Thanks to everyone for their input!

Glad to hear, enjoy your new Watch!

angus141 wrote:

Just one more question - do you think having a Watch will reduce screen time? I spend a lot of time on/ or with my phone at work. When I am off work back home in the UK I’m hoping that the Watch will reduce the need for me to carry a phone so much and reduce my screen time.

Or does it just move your attention from one screen to another?

The screen on the Apple Watch is not really that big. What I find I'm doing with my Apple Watch is checking the Time, acknowledging and dismissing alarms that originate from my iPhone, checking the temperature and weather, occasionally sending a message to my Wife using speech to text (with it is funny interpretations of what I said; hence they are brief and not to perfect strangers), I do not use the telephone that much, so I get SPAM calls, and I just press the Digital Crown to silence the ringer, and let them go to voice mail (which the SPAM calls rarely leave a message).

I do try to exercise once a day, and I do start my Apple Watch in a workout, but I am not anal about it. I do not care if the mileage is 100% accurate, or if my heart rate is exactly right, etc... I just find the Apple Watch a useful tool to get me to do my exercise, because I get to play with tech toys.

Less frequent is doing something like "Hey Sire, 13 minutes 30 seconds" and I'll get a timer that I'll use while in the kitchen. Or using Apple Pay at checkout (just used it at a Apple Orchard for a self picked bag of apples 🍎 ).

But all of them have me only looking at the Apple Watch for just a few seconds, and then I'm doing something else.

I cannot really speak to Mac and iPhone screen time, as I am a computer programmer and I make my living sitting in front of a MacBook Pro with 2 external 4K large monitors, VPN'ed into the company's network, writing code. And when I am not on my company Mac, I'm often reading ebooks on my iPhone, or using the Company Slack service, or reading posts on the discussions.apple.com forums, or watch YouTube, or playing games on my iPhone, etc...

So basically, I am a terrible person to ask about reducing screen time 😁

Hey Angus!

I've done the same thing, except I'm with EE (US-bought Series 10, model A3003). I ran into an 012 error code on the cellular setup and have spoken to EE numerous times to try and fix it (potentially an account-based issue - read more on EE forum).

Could you please let me know if you managed to get it working on Vodaphone?

Alex

angus141 wrote:

Just one more question - do you think having a Watch will reduce screen time?

This makes me thing this is your first Apple Watch. In that case

Things I do with my GPS Only Series 4 (and now a Series 10) Apple Watch:

• It tells time, date, day of the week

• Every iPhone alarm, appears on my wrist, where you can acknowledge it, dismiss it, etc…

• I like the iPhone 3rd party “Alarmed” app (http://yoctoville.com), for my alarms

• Ring.com door bell can display a static image on the Apple Watch

• Weather (this gets used a lot)

• MyRadar 3rd party app (http://yoctoville.com),

• Rain Alarm 3rd party app will show a moving radar image.

• MyRadar and WeatherBug 3rd party apps will send you weather alerts

• Make/Receive phone calls

• Make/Receive FaceTime audio calls

• Use Walkie-Talkie to other Apple Watches anywhere on the planet

• Silence phone ringing by pressing the digital crown (great for SPAM calls)

• Send & receive iMessages

• Send & receive SMS TEXT

• Say “Hey Siri, 14 and a half minute timer”

• Say “Hey Siri, remind me when I get home to do xyz”

• Say “Hey Siri, message my wife/husband/Susan/George/etc…”

• Say “Hey Siri, start Outdoor Walk”

• Say “Hey Siri, end workout”

• Say "Hey Siri, find my iPhone"

• Say "Hey Siri, flashlight"

• Use a 3rd party garage door opener app and device (such as MyQ)

• You can check your calendar

• Read your email

• If you need to take an iPhone picture where you cannot see the screen, use Apple Watch Camera app as a view finder/shutter release

• 3rd party Ocean's Tide app for beach visits (but iOS 18 now has its own tides app).

• Hand washing reminder and timer

• Unlock your Mac (I do this several times a day)

• Unlock your iPhone when you are wearing a mask

• Track your exercise and physical activities

Since my Wife got her Apple Watch, we have been able to reliably iMessage each other, as she never keeps here iPhone on her person.

If my Apple Watch was lost, stolen, or broken, I would order a replacement as fast as possible, as I would miss it so much.

WOW, excellent information BobHarris!

angus141 wrote:

Correct! This would be my first Watch.

Excellent, you will be sure to love your Apple Watch for a long time to come.

Thank you very much for letting me know!!!!

I will keep posting here for EE viewers (or maybe I'll join you on Vodafone if I don't get it working ;) )